


Like a Beethoven Symphony

by Amy



Category: Kairos series - L'Engle
Genre: Backstory, Gen, Holiday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-20
Updated: 2009-12-20
Packaged: 2017-10-04 18:38:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/32929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amy/pseuds/Amy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Josh might have been a heretic, but he was a polite one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Like a Beethoven Symphony

**Author's Note:**

  * For [chaos_harmony](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaos_harmony/gifts).



Joshua met them on Christmas Eve. It was his first year out of the States, and he couldn't afford to fly home. He hadn't wanted to make a big deal out of it, but as soon as word got out in the Embassy he received three offers of a place to go. One came from a lawyer, another from a priest, and a third from a man who had been training him after hours in things that would be useful to the state department, but never publicly.

As it turned out, the offers were all to the same party.

It seemed everyone knew each other- everyone in Lisbon, everyone in the government, everyone in the world. Josh might have been able to say no to Canon Tallis, or to Mr. Murry, or even to the contact he knew as CW, but not all three of them. So although Christmas wasn't the kind of thing he really put much stock in, he said yes.

After work, Joshua picked up a bottle of the most expensive wine he could afford (it wasn't very) and tied a ribbon around its neck before he met them at the airport. CW had contacted him earlier, telling him he wouldn't be joining him for dinner, so he took a cab to the airport alone.

Small world: the only people on the rickety plane, set to fly at dusk on Christmas Eve, were Mr. Murry ("Please, call me Sandy, we're not at work"), his wife Rhea, Canon Tallis, and Joshua. Smaller world: they all knew each other. In fact, they were old friends. Before they took off they talked about things they'd done together, about friends they had in common, and of course about the people they were visiting. Mr. Murry's sister and brother-in-law were the parents of Canon Tallis's goddaughter, and although neither the priest nor the lawyer lived anywhere near Portugal, they both came here frequently.

Joshua tried to pay attention; he was, in fact, interested. But he could barely pay attention. He was too entranced by the flight. He'd been in planes before, of course- it was how he'd gotten to Lisbon- but this was different. On an airplane like that, you were secure in a bubble. Here he was just in the sky, and it was the most amazing thing he'd ever experienced. The roar of the engine sounded like a Beethoven symphony, and he threw his head back and howled with delight like a child on a roller coaster.

When they landed, Canon Tallis smiled and said "I think you'll fit in well here."

"Can you ride?" Mr. Murry- Sandy- asked, and when Josh nodded, he was led to the stables, where four brown horses were saddled and waiting. "They're an island breed," Sandy continued as he mounted one. "They know the way to my sister's place better than I do. Normally Calvin or Meg would meet us, but getting Christmas dinner ready and watching four kids is more than one person can do, so we're on our own." Canon Tallis and Rhea were already on their horses, and Josh pulled himself up on the fourth, awkwardly tucking his bag with the bottle of wine between his body and the horse's mane.

When they arrived, they were immediately surrounded: a young girl, two young boys, a woman with a baby on her hip. Everyone overflowed with greetings and hugs. The girl threw her arms around Canon Tallis's legs before he'd even gotten off the horse. Josh stood back for a moment, unsure of how to integrate himself into the moment.

Sandy took care of it. "Josh, this is Mrs. O'Keefe, my favorite sister" (he and the woman both laughed) "and this is Poly, Charles, Alexander, and Dennys." He pointed to each of them in turn, and the children waved, except for Dennys, who rested his head on his mother's shoulder and sucked his thumb. "Meg," he said to the woman, "this is Joshua Archer. He works at the Embassy. He's one of the good guys- he's training with Charles."

Josh racked his brain for a moment, trying to figure out which Charles Sandy was referring to, before it struck him that he must have meant CW. He hadn't even known that CW and Mr. Murry knew each other. He'd never seen them together- which, he realized now, was likely intentional. Only his upbringing, so ingrained as to be automatic, allowed him to hold out a hand to Mrs. O'Keefe and say "Pleased to meet you" without stumbling over his words. And then, awkwardly, a moment later, reaching into his bag: "I brought you this."

"Thank you," Mrs. O'Keefe said warmly. "Merry Christmas, Joshua."

Josh might have been a heretic, but he was a polite one. "Merry Christmas."

"My husband's carving the turkey now," she said. "Why doesn't everyone come inside? I'll get out the wine glasses."

"But Mother, it's lovely out today," the oldest boy said. "Can't we have dinner out here?"

"Of course not," his older sister said. "You can't have Christmas dinner if you can't see the Christmas tree, and it's especially pretty this year." She glanced up. "Would you like to come see it?"

Joshua realized she was talking to him, and moreover, he realized that yes, he did want to. "Sure," he said, and let his hand be grabbed by the skinny redhead who couldn't have been more than seven or eight years old. She led him through the dining room so he could see it.

It really was beautiful. Not gaudy or tacky like the things he'd seen at home and in the windows of American hotels. The O'Keefes were like a storybook family. Strings of popcorn and cranberries looped around the tree alongside simple ornaments. "Charles and I helped make those," Poly said. "Alexander just ate some of the popcorn, which is why there are so many more strings of cranberries."

"It looks fantastic," Joshua said. "I can see why you would want to eat dinner here."

Poly beamed.

Everyone filtered into the dining room: Sandy and Rhea, Canon Tallis, Mrs. O'Keefe, the two youngest boys, and finally a man carrying a turkey who Joshua realized must be Dr. O'Keefe. "Merry Christmas, sir," he said.

The man had a kind face. "Welcome to the madhouse, Joshua. We're glad to have you here tonight."

"Thank you."

"Mother, can Joshua sit next to me at dinner tonight?" Poly asked.

"I thought you wanted to sit next to Sandy and Canon Tallis," her mother said gently.

"Oh, I do, but Joshua's so nice, and oh! I hate decisions like these." The girl pouted, and if she'd been any younger Joshua thought she would have stamped her foot.

It was a round table; there was no one to sit at the head of it. Still, everything seemed to center around Dr. O'Keefe, who placed the turkey in front of his own chair. Joshua sat, ultimately, between him and Poly, and he helped serve the turkey and the side dishes. Josh thought of the hot plate, sitting in his apartment, and was so immensely grateful it felt like it might overflow.

They ate quietly, but not awkwardly; it was a companionable silence. After dinner and dessert they all moved into the living room, settling into well-loved furniture.

Dr. O'Keefe reached onto a shelf and pulled out a well-worn book. It wasn't at all ostentatious. It fit in perfectly among the science journals and cookbooks lining the walls. On its left was Darwin's _Origin of Species_; on its right, Maddox's _Horn of Joy_. It took Joshua a moment to realize that it was, in fact, a Bible.

He felt uncomfortable, suddenly, in a room with a priest and a bible and people he respected but didn't know well enough to say a word to. Grace over the meal hadn't been a problem, but this felt like something deep and meaningful and personal, and he felt like an intruder in the room.

But Dr. O'Keefe didn't lecture or pray. Just like Joshua's own father had read The Night Before Christmas to him, Dr. O'Keefe read part of the Christmas story, interjecting his own explanations to clarify to the youngest children. After a few minutes of reading he passed the book to his right, and Mrs. O'Keefe read some, then Charles, then Sandy and Rhea and Canon Tallis, and finally Poly.

She was a good reader for her age, and her voice was clear and loud, and it didn't matter to Joshua that he believed in other people a hell of a lot more than he believed in God, because that wasn't what she was saying at all. Poly said "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people," and for Joshua, the great joy had nothing to do with Jesus Christ, and everything to do with the people in the room with him.

Poly read until her father checked his watch and said that it was enough, and then he took the Bible and put it back on shelf. Almost on cue, a phone rang, and Joshua watched as Dr. O'Keefe answered and then each of them took a turn. "It's my twin brother," Sandy explained after he got off the phone. "The one Dennys is named after. He's at my parents' house in the States with his daughter and wife. We couldn't all get together, but we figured two separate Christmases is better than half a dozen, especially with Father's new phone plan."

Until that night, Sandy had not been a person with a family- a loving wife, yes, but not parents, siblings, adoring nieces and nephews. It didn't change anything Joshua felt about him, qualitatively, but it multiplied it, and made Joshua feel like part of something- something bigger than himself. Joshua wasn't deluded enough to think anything in the world was secure or safe, but the O'Keefes' home was the closest thing he'd ever come across.

"Mother, can we sing carols before bed?" Charles asked. "Please?"

"You may, but if you want to go swimming you better do that first."

"May we?" Poly asked.

"Go ahead."

As the children ran outside, followed by Sandy and Rhea and Dr. O'Keefe, Mrs. O'Keefe turned to Joshua. "It's a tradition we have out here. Swimming after dinner, before Santa comes. Gives me some time to clean up before everything gets destroyed again tomorrow, and a sandcastle's almost like a snowman." She smiled.

Joshua shook his head. "At home it could be snowing right now," he said wonderingly, staring out the window at the figures on the beach.

"We've been here for over six years and it's still amazing to me that it's not," Mrs. O'Keefe replied. "I don't mind being out in the middle of nowhere for Calvin's work, but something about December makes me miss living in the States."

"Yeah," Joshua said. "I'm not really homesick here in Lisbon, but times like this…" He shook his head again, clearing it. "Although if I were there, I'd die to be someplace this warm." He watched his dinner companions enter a building farther down the beach.

Canon Tallis followed his gaze. "There are some spare swim trunks in the bathhouse, if you'd like," he said. "I'm sure they'd love for you to join them."

Joshua took a moment to think about it, but only a moment. The sand got into his nice shoes, but he didn't care. He reached the bathhouse just as the other men were leaving, Sandy holding Alexander's hand and Dr. O'Keefe holding Charles's. With his free hand, Dr. O'Keefe gestured at the stack of miscellaneous bathing suits lying on a bench. "Your choice," he said. "We'll be waiting outside with Poly and Rhea when you're ready."

Joshua sifted through the pile. An absolutely hideous pair of zebra-striped swim trunks was almost buried at the bottom.

He smiled as he put them on.


End file.
